Dick's POV

I decided to use the skills I had learnt from my mother and grandfather for good, not killing people, just foiling villains' plans. Stopping muggings, robberies and basically wreaking havoc for the Gotham underworld.

I had decided to go to Gotham as it was America's most crime-infested city, Bludhaven coming a close second.

I knew that there was already a hero in Gotham known as Batman, leader of the Justice League and self-proclaimed 'World' s Greatest Detective'. I also knew that he hated any other heroes on his turf, so I tried to keep my distance from him.

I did actually manage it for a while, but inevitably came across him eventually. He was furious when he found that someone else had been fighting crime in his city, and swiftly knocked me out by catching me unawares and throwing knockout-gas pellets to the floor.

I awoke to find my wrist bound together behind my back and my ankles tied to the legs of the chair I was sitting on. I groaned. I hated being treated like a criminal, although I suppose it was only to be expected as I had chosen to wear my League of Shadows uniform when out crime-fighting.

When Batman heard me groan, he came into the room and glared at me sharply. I had heard about the infamous 'Batglare', but I didn't find it as intimidating as everyone made it out to be. I just glared straight back at him.
“Who are you?” he demanded
I continued to glare at him.
“Are you a member of the League of Shadows?”
“No,” I replied, a little too sharply.
“Then why are you wearing their uniform?”
“My mother is,” I replied, truthfully, “she tried to make me into an assassin as well, but I didn’t want to be one, so I ran away and came to Gotham.”
“And your father?”
I shrugged, “I don’t know who is, or even if he’s alive. My mother never spoke about him.”
He gave me an assessing look before leaving the room. I was left still tied to the chair and for all of my effort, I couldn’t get free. Batman really knew his stuff.

He eventually returned a few hours later and I was actually grateful as I had been spending the time counting to a million in Romanian and was trying to decide what to do next when he arrived.
“You can speak Romanian?” he asked
“Romanian,Spanish, French, Russian, German, Portuguese, Bulgarian, Manderin, Japanese and quite a few other languages.”
He nodded in response.
“Have you ever been to school?”
I shook my head, “No, but I’ve had private tuition since the age of four.”
“And how old are you now?”
I wasn’t sure if I should answer his question, but then again, it wasn’t as if I wore a mask and I did want him to like me.
“Thirteen,” I replied.
“And what is your name?”
“Richard,” I said, “but I prefer to be called Dick.”
“Surname?”
I thought quickly. I couldn’t tell him my actual surname, so I made one up.
“Grayson.”
He nodded, accepting it easily. I was relieved. It was the only lie I had told him.
He then left for a little while longer, and I resumed my counting, this time in Portuguese.

“Well, Dick,” Batman said, coming back into the room, “how about you make a deal with me?”
“What sort of a deal?” I asked, skeptically.
“Either I return you to your mother,”
“No,” I said, alarmed, “ I can’t go back there!”
“Then, you must come and live with me.”
“With you?” I asked, surprised
He nodded, “ As it seems you have your heart set on the hero business, I have decided to train you. I can’t leave you out on the streets by yourself and I can’t put you into an orphanage because of your background and training.”
I simply nodded, not entirely sure how to reply.
“Good,” he said, “your first lesson is being able to untie those ropes. After that, training every morning at 05:30 am, and you’ll also need a name.”
While untying the ropes, I thought about the name, eventually settling on the nickname Damian had for me.
“What about ‘Robin’?”

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